keeping it real (nobody puts baby in a corner)

I have a love/hate relationship with mom blogs. On many levels, I love it, because it allows me to feel connected to other moms during this season where I am rather isolated at home. I appreciate hearing that I'm not alone, and reading that others are having similar experiences. At the same time, I am also aware that blogging can become a medium for us to present our "best selves": from detailing homemade crafts to posting stunning photos of our kids, a blog can become a show-and-tell for moms that glosses over the hard parts with good lighting and soft filters. I love reading blogs and feeling inspired - really I do - but I sometimes wonder how all of this is setting up our expectations for the daily grind of motherhood.

But something tells that, while the specifics may vary, we've all been there.

So, I'll start. My "keeping it real" moment this week occurred when I was attempting to clean out my garage. Posting pictures of my garage alone could suffice - I believe I could be a candidate for a Hoarders episode with my garage in its current state. I was trying to at least pave a path for the children to play, and Karis was crawling all over the place, finding stray leaves and twigs (and silverfish? perhaps?) and attempting to put them in her mouth. I thought that I should go grab the excersaucer so I could have a way to keep her contained. But the excersaucer was all the way in the house . . . and so bulky and heavy . . . and here I was in a garage full of plastic boxes . . .
So what do you think I did? I put my baby in a box. In the corner. And then I let her play with a knife. BECAUSE IT WAS THERE, AND IT MADE HER HAPPY.

(Please also note the graveyard of infant carseats behind her).

So that's my shining moment for this week. Well, one of them anyways. Wanna play? Just link back to your own blog below. Write a post, or find an old post, and give us your best moment. Or should I say not-so-best moment.

I will keep this up for about a week, and post another one in a few weeks. Or months. Or I might just get distracted and forget about it completely, but for now I'm a little giddy about the spree of mediocrity this experiment might inspire.

You can copy the code below into your post to get the title graphic for your own post. Or not. The bar is very low here, gals.

21 comments:

i don't have a blog - mainly because most all of my mom moments are "keeping it real" moments and if the authorities ever caught wind of my writings, they might seek safer shelter for my children. i am, however, a blog stalker. BUT i only stalk mom blogs that "keep it real". the other ones are depressing at best. let's face it, we all try our hardest to be great moms. why would i want to read about how someone is mothering better, cuter, craftier, more stylish and more spiritual than me? that would be like sitting opposite jack bauer at the interrogation table - torture. heck, my kids torture me enough, why would i willfully torture myself by reading such material? :-)as i said,i have so many "keep it real" moments i don't really know which one to pick, but how about this one? i'll title it PRIDE COMETH BEFORE THE PEE:while attending a birthday party with my children at a gymnastics place, i decided it would be fun to jump on the ground level trampoline (i'm sure you know where this is going). my youngest child was one - surely by this point i had gained enough "contol" of things down there. i decided to do a little showing off - a "look what i can still do" sort of moment, if you will. afterall, i WAS a cheerleader for 8 years back in the 80's! so a straddle toe touch it is....here i go...way up high, toes perfectly pointed and appropriately touched, AND only one, tiny. itty bitty drop of pee in the panties. WOW! i've still got it, i thought, and look at the audience i've gathered! i'm feeling pretty good at this point. i could still do a toe touch, i hadn't peed myself, and i had gathered the attention of several onlookers. do it again! that would be the only logical thing to do at this point, right? higher. stronger. pointier! here we go -jump, jump, jump, straddle/point/reach/touch/EMPTY ENTIRE BLADDER all over khaki cargo pants, which by the way are the perfect color to show exactly where you've wet and how much coffee you've drank today. my husband's friend who was standing right in front of me, was gentleman enough to turn around immediately and pretend as if one of his kids was suddenly and tragicly trapped in the ball pit. to this day, he still claims he didn't see my pride spill out all over the crotch of my khaki's. he truly is a gentleman. at this point, i could do two things, laugh or cry. the cute, young, able to hold her pee high school girl who was in charge of the party was beckoning everyone to the upstairs party room for cake. what to do? what any other "real moment" mom would do -join the single file line of party guests up the stairs and gleefully say to the people behind me, "sorry about the urine stench, but i just peed in my pants while showing off on the trampoline." now looking back, i know that if i would have been one of those stellar moms whose blogs i avoid, i would have thought of something a lot more crafty to say....afterall, i did have a one year old in tow. i easily could have blamed it on him. i mean, doesn't your baby pee on your pants exactly in the same place you do?

I just found you recently through Jen Thompson's blog and I absolutely love your blog. It has been so fun to read about your adventures and let me tell you - I have never ever ever been one to have a nice glossy "mom" blog. Nope. Because my life is hardly ever glossy and perfect and wonderful to look at. If I do happen to have any of those moments on my blog - well consider it good luck for the day because tomorrow will bring a whole new load of misadventures from my family. What can I say? I have three rambuncious boys, two large dogs, a husband that works A LOT, and loud obnoxious me shoved in the middle of it all. I'll try to comb through all of my posts to find just one misadventure to write about, but seriously, I have almost too many to count.

Anyway, I just had to delurk myself because I've wanted to introduce myself for ages to you and when I read today's post I had to laugh because my life is so NOT GLOSSY! have a great day :)

Love this! I just tried to link my blog and totally messed up :/ Mine is Job Title: Mom. It won't let me add it again. Would you mind deleting it and I can re-add it. Sorry :(http://momofcase.blogspot.com/2009/05/job-title-mother.html:)Kristen

thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!!! for a while i started feeling like less of a mom b/c i wasn't all cheery, surviving on small amounts of sleep with a smile, crafting and sewing up a storm all while my children sat in a circle reading to each other and never needing me all day. i finally deleted those blogs from my blog list and i'm much happier! i have too many stories to tell, but currently my children are fighting over who is going to sit on which side of the picnic table while they eat their lunch (pb&j..... again) b/c my son wants to see the swings and does NOT want his sister to see them. does that count? i hope so. b/c it makes me crazy!

OHHH, I love this idea. I say on a weekly basis (if not more), "This was never in the damned baby book!" And that I want to write a no holds barred parenting book. So I will participate but then you and I must form together and write a book out of all this good stuff!

Ugh. Thank you. I've just recently had this conversation (with myself) while driving, as that is sometimes the most peaceful part of my day.... "Why is every blogger mommy more creative, crafty, whimsical and better at photography than me? I aspire to be them, and yet I hate them. And I'm already trying to be too much. I give up. I'm a great mom to my kids despite the fact that our life is generally a mess. Btw, I've been at home a little over three years now, but am returning to my teaching job in the fall and I LOVED your post about kindergarten night. Priceless. I read it to my neighbor, who's in the process of choosing a school for her son.

Lol...this is so funny! I would link my blog but it is not a good example right now since I dressed my kids up in their "fancy clothes", gave them a lollipop (PROP) and yelled at them to smile for the picture! haha.

So funny. I posted a blog this morning about this very thing. Love you for "keeping it real" Kristen, and for being so authentic. It is appreciated by this kinda-crafty-not-so-great-at-taking-pictures-totally-imperfect mom.

my blog's pretty boring, but i love this idea. i have had a way less than perfect mommy day. a drop of olba's oil in the bath for your kiddos to clear congestion is NOT a good idea. everyone survived, but are now terrified of bathing. big oops!

I love this idea! Now if only I had something in my life that other, average mothers could relate too...alas, I came up with all too many and was unsure of the reception such a terribly ordinary and flawed mama would receive. ;) What a great idea!! I'll be linking up next time, for sure!

I recently polled my readers and discovered they like me because I "keep it real." Guess that means you would enjoy my blog? I linked to a post where I worked for hours making a photoshopped picture of my son looking like Voldemort (the dork had shaved his head without my permission). I made him wear a hat in my presence at all times. http://marythemom-mayhem.blogspot.com/2009/12/shaved-head.html